Wednesday, February 29, 2012

How often should you change the oil in your car? Should I follow the factory schedule? Sometimes people ask why I recommend deviating from the
factory service schedules for fluids in late model cars. I hope my thoughts on this matter will help you make a good decision for your own vehicle.

BMW and Mercedes introduced extended service intervals ten
years ago. Oil change intervals of
15,000 miles and even more were supposedly made possible by improvements in
engine design and new synthetic oil technology.

When people adhered to that schedule, the results were
mixed. People who drove on the highway,
and piled miles on quickly, often had good results. By “good” I mean they did not suffer any
lubrication related failures, and they got the economy of long oil changes.

People who drove mostly around town often had very different
experiences. Those cars often ended up
going a year and a half between services, and when we pulled the oil filters,
they were often nasty. A number of those
people had lube related problems – lifter noise, and worse.

That tells me the long intervals work for some people, but
not everyone. What’s the sensible
solution? Change your oil a bit more
often, with the very best available materials, and whichever kind of driver you
are, you should be safe.

With newer BMW, Mercedes, and Land Rover vehicles where a
15k oil change interval is recommended, I suggest reducing that interval to
10,000 miles or annually, whichever comes first. If you do that on a 2011 Land Rover,
Mercedes, or BMW, you will have an engine that’s just like new at 100k miles.

It is imperative to use the proper grade of synthetic oil
with the correct extended drain additive packages. Always make sure the oil you use meets the
specific requirements of your car. For
example, some Mercedes, use an oil that meets MB specification 229.51 while
others use a different spec. A wrong choice
could cost an engine.

The benefit of more frequent oil changes is extended engine
life and the avoidance of sludge damage in the motor. Since the cost of any such damage will run in
the thousands of dollars, that benefit is substantial. Offsetting that is the cost of the extra oil
changes. Over 100,000 miles, the extra
cost of 10k oil changes versus 15k changes might add up to $700. To me, that is a smart bet - $700 over 100k
miles to avoid a multi thousand dollar engine repair.

If you have an older car where the factory calls for 5,000 or 7,500 mile oil changes I suggest you stick to that but use a good synthetic. The synthetics have better detergents and they will keep your engine cleaner. At the same time, the synthetic formulations last far longer than 7,500 miles, so oil failure should never be an issue.

The only cars I suggest get more frequent services are antiques with limited filtration and/or sludge in the engines.

In any case, I suggest doing oil annually if the mileage targets are not reached.

More extended drain fluids are found in the transmission,
differentials, and power steering/hydraulics.
While synthetic oil technology has produced lubricants that should
last ten years or more, that does not mean I feel comfortable leaving them in a
car that long.

Few manual gearboxes, power steering systems, and
differentials have filters. That means
any contaminants that get into the oil keep making their way through the
system. If dirt gets in, or pieces of
metal invade the oil, disaster is ensured with those long change
intervals.

Another big risk is water intrusion. Differentials in particular are susceptible
to water intrusion. I’ve seen several
Mercedes 4Matic transfer cases that were ruined by watery lubricant as well.

For those reasons I suggest checking these fluids every 3
years-30,000 miles or wherever there is a visual suggestion of a problem.

Automatic transmissions are a different matter, because they
have filters. However, they also put
different stresses on their fluid, and having seen what gets drained out at
120,000 miles, I feel most ATF fluids should be done by 60k miles. The idea of “lifetime fill” simply means a
$5,000 repair if it blows up on your watch.
I’d rather up my odds and change the fluid every now and then. Note that most high-end cars use special
fluids and there are few if any generic substitutes.

What about brake fluid?
The reason for changing brake fluid is that it absorbs moisture, which
rusts brake components from the inside.
For many years, European carmakers suggested semi-annual fluid changes,
and domestic carmakers didn’t suggest any brake fluid service at all. The result was frozen calipers on domestics
and very little trouble on imports with fluid service.

There have not been any changes in brake fluid technology
and brake components are still made from similar materials as 20 years
ago. Therefore, I feel safe suggesting
we adhere to the traditional once-every-two-years fluid flush cycle. The exception to that is cars that get run on
the track, where the fluid gets hot, because the heat cycling can accelerate
moisture absorption. For cars that run
on the track I recommend annual flushes.

I think the fluid recommendations above represent a sensible
balance that favors extending the life of the vehicle’s mechanical systems at
minimal added maintenance cost. They are
based on my study of the cars and lubricants, and my 20-some years of
experience as a service manager here at J E Robison Service in
Springfield. However, the final decision
is up to you as the motorist.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Are you wondering what service are due on your late model Land Rover? Read on . .

For the 2010 model year, Land Rover changed from 7,500 to
15,000 miles for its basic service interval.They now recommend service annually, or every 15,000 miles, whichever
comes first.High performance synthetic
oil is now required.

Here are the other highlights of the newest service
schedule:

·Thanks to a larger element, the change interval
on the air filter has been increased to 60-75,000 miles.

·The cabin pollen filter is called out for change
annually

·Brake fluid is now changed every three years

·Coolant is supposedly good for ten years

·Spark plugs are rated to last 105,000 miles

·The fan belts are rated to last 105,000 miles

·Automatic transmission fluid and regular
differential fluids are rated to last 10 years

·Transfer case, locking differential, and dynamic
response fluids are rated to last 75,000 miles

·The fuel filter is rated for ten years

·Land Rover is now calling for replacement of the
flexible brake hoses every six years

·Instead of calling for a full system scan, LR
now says, “If fault lamps are lit check with IDS.”

In many cases, improvements in service parts, fluids, and
vehicle design do make these longer service intervals possible without
compromise.Unfortunately, if the
extended service intervals prove insufficient, LR warranty will be long since
expired, and the owner will be left to face what might have been preventable
failures.

If you own a 2010 or newer Land Rover V8 I suggest the
following modifications to the factory schedule:

·Even with long life oils, I suggest oil changes
at 10,000 mile intervals or annually.The incremental costs of these extra oil changes are trivial when
compared to the expense of any internal engine repair that might otherwise
result from sludge building or accelerated wear.

·The brake fluid change interval is based on
brake fluid’s natural tendency to absorb moisture from the air.That property has not changed in recent
years, so I see no reason to deviate from the two-year recommendation Mercedes,
Rover, and many other companies promulgated for many years with good result

·I think leaving transmission and differential
fluids in those components for ten years is ridiculous; it invites
disaster.I would change all those fluids
by 75,000 miles, just like the transfer case lube.

·Land Rover is not the first company to extend
coolant change intervals to a decade.I
have my doubts about that, but the ph. of coolant can be tested.If you plan to leave in in place, I encourage
you to test it annually.If you cant do
that, replacement is the safer bet in my opinion.

·Land Rover no longer recommends scanning all
systems at every service, but I recommend that be done anyway.The reason:It’s the only way to tell if electronic faults are current or
recent.If you never do a full system
scan and clear you could have a system fault when the truck is four years old,
and find the relevant diagnostic codes hidden by a plethora of other codes that
came and went over the life of the vehicle.Codes need to be read, evaluated, and cleared on a regular basis.Not doing so renders the sophisticated
diagnostic systems useless.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Have you ever wished for better headlamps on your Corniche,
Shadow, or Cloud III? I sure have. Those old round headlamps were marginal when
the cars were new, and now that both of us have gotten older, they really don’t
make it for serious night driving.

The US government finally agreed with that point of
view. Today’s cars have headlights that
are at least four times as bright as cars of the seventies, with some ever
better than that. And that comparison is
new to new. Comparing a brand new car’s
headlamps to the deteriorated bulbs and wiring of a 1967 automobile makes a
much more stark comparison. Some of the
vehicles that come to our shop have such poor lighting I’m amazed the cars
weren’t wrecked before getting to our shop!

At Robison Service, our objective is to get as close as
possible to modern lighting performance, while remaining true to the car’s
vintage look. In my opinion, that rules
out all HID conversions; there was no such thing as gas-discharge car lighting
in the seventies.

The simplest conversion is installation of halogen sealed
beams in place of the original units.
That’s an improvement, but not enough for me. Next up the ladder is the fitment of H4
aftermarket headlamps; the most common ones come from Hella and Cibie. Those are better, but sill not the best we
can do.

What we have settled on are a pair of H1 halogen bulbs with
Hella bi-focal low beam lenses complimented by a pair of H1 bulbs in Hella
parabolic high beams. These lamps have
an external appearance that’s almost indistinguishable from stock, and the
brightest and most efficient optics of any lamp in this size class.

We run the lows alone for low beam, and the lows plus the
highs for main beam. This combination
gives better up-close visibility and greater range on high beam, and far better
all round performance on low beam.

These lenses are the easiest part of the conversion. They are direct replacements for the sealed
beams. You remove the single screw the
holds the headlight cover and lift it away. Three Phillips screws hold each
headlamp retaining ring; the screws are loosened and the rings twisted slightly
counterclockwise and then pulled clear.
At that point the headlamps drop out, held only by their wires. Changing that over is what takes all the
time.

If you do as we do – fitting H1 lamps – you don’t have any
choice about changing wiring because all the headlamp connections are different. However, plug compatibility is not the only
reason for the change. The other is
voltage, or rather, an adequate supply of it.

Headlamps are rated to deliver a certain amount of light at
exactly 12 volts. If the voltage at the
headlamps drops to 11 volts, light output drops to 75% of rating. If, on the other hand, voltage at the
headlamps is 13 volts, the headlamps will deliver 30% more than rated
output. As you see, a small change in
voltage makes a big difference in light.

The only tradeoff is bulb life, but that’s not generally a
limiting factor on vintage motorcars.
Even at 13 volts, a typical H! bulb will last 200 hours or so, which
equates to many years of driving the way most of these cars are used.

For people who drive in parades we fit what Europeans call
city lamps. These are smaller bulbs that
light the reflectors of the headlamps without throwing much light on the
road. They make the vehicle visible but
using them will not wear out the main beam bulbs.

Modern alternators deliver a solid 14 volts, even under load. There’s always some loss through the wiring,
but we do whatever is necessary to ensure strong voltage at the lights, for
maximum brilliance. We aim for 12.5-13
volts; enough for brightness but not so much as to reduce bulb life
unacceptably.

Most of the time, we fit relays beside the radiator, with a
heavy cable from them to the alternator.
That takes the load off the switches and wiring, and ensures strong
voltage supply. In addition, we replace
the sockets and connectors out at the lamps with high power components that
have less resistance.

Taken together, these changes will multiply the light output
of your old car many times over. Night
driving will be transformed.

The photo above shows a new light next to the original outboard high beam

And if that’s not enough . . . we can still get brand new
replacements for the old style rectangular driving lamps from the 1970s . A pair of those under the front bumper will
extend your reach even farther.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Have you ever had mice eat holes in the upholstery of your
car? Have you ever opened the hood to
find rodents have devoured the padding, and possibly the wires too? Have you perhaps started a car only to have
the dash go up in smoke because vermin ate the insulation off the wiring?

Here at Robison Service, we have seen all that and more.

Did you know that comprehensive auto insurance covers rodent
damage, in almost every case?

Here’s an example of what can happen when you store your
pride and joy in a cat-free, rodentacious environment:

At first glance, there wasn’t much sign this1953 Jaguar 120
had a problem at all. Then the owner saw
the hole. Something had chewed a
quarter-sized hole through the headliner, just forward of the rear window.

When we took a closer look, we saw a smaller
hole on the other side. Apparently, they
burrowed all the way across and started eating their way out the other
side.

And that was just the beginning .
. .

There are little black streaks all over the outside of the
car. Those streaks are arranged in paths, marking the lines where rodents ran
back and forth while devouring the car.
The paths make their way into the trunk, and under the hood, where brown
grains of mouse poop are littered.

To fix that, we will strip out the interior, and then wash the
metal with mild bleach and disinfectant.
Same thing for the outside, after which we use a clay bar to smooth the
paint, and glaze and wax.

There is no good way to get mouse urine out of carpets, and
the smell will linger forever, so we change the rugs as a set. The other reason for changing rugs as a set
is of course color match. On a show-grade
car that is especially critical.

It’s important not to forget the pads or liners under the
rugs when replacing trim. We’ve learned
that the hard way, when we change the parts on top, but odor lingers from the
pads below. That’s why we strip these
cars down to metal right at the beginning.

One of the big worries for any insurance appraiser is
electrical damage. Rodents eat the
insulation off wires. That leads to
strange malfunctions and even electrical fires.
Luckily this car does not seem to have any of those problems.

This is not just a cosmetic issue - mice are carriers of
many diseases, and we now approach these cleanups from that perspective.The most threatening health issue with mice
is their ability to spread Salmonella bacteria in their droppings. This is a
common cause of food poisoning. Other transmittable organisms are tapeworms,
rat-bite fever, infectious jaundice/leptospirosis/ Weil’s Disease, plague,
Hantavirus, and possibly poliomyelitis (polio). Given these potentially life
threatening diseases, mice should not be tolerated in the tight confines of
your car.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Our business has changed quite a lot since the economy
collapsed in 2008.One of the biggest
ways we see that is in the condition of many middle aged cars – there’s a lot
more neglect today.

The idea of taking care of the whole car has gone out the
window for many people, replaced with occasional oil changes at the quick
lube.We see customers less often, and
when they do come in, problems have often piled up to a distressing degree.

What seems to happen is this: Motorists feel pressure to
save money, so they take their cars to quick lube places, where an oil change is
just an oil change.No one looks the car
over carefully, which means there’s no bad news.There’s no service manager saying, “by the
way, your brakes are wearing out and the transmission has a leak.”Ignorance is bliss, until something fails and
the motorist undergoes what we call Pedestrian
Conversion, by the side of the road.

That’s when we get the call; as they are walking where they
used to drive.

When the car is towed in we find a fluid leak that we’d have
picked up during a routine service.It
emptied the transmission, and the car now needs a $3,500 gearbox
replacement.A belt that we’d have seen
cracking comes apart, and another car is towed in with $2,500 of overheating
damage.

The worst are the cars that got the wrong oil at the quick
lube place, and the cars that didn’t get an oil change at all.We see sludge-filled engines and repair bills
that run eight thousand dollars, maybe even more.All that for skimping on service.

For some people these are trainable moments that demonstrate
the value of preventative maintenance.Others feel they had no alternative; a viewpoint I find hard to accept.

When you’re a service manager and a car comes in for
service, what do you do in this environment?The way I see it, specialists like me have a duty as experts.That means we look every car over, and report
any incipient problems.Many times,
those incipient problems total up to quite a lot of money.

We’re asked to change the oil and look the vehicle over for
obvious problems, and the “obvious” list is long.

We report what we see to the customers, and some are
thankful.These are not usually the
people whose cars arrived on a tow truck.Others are upset.“I don’t want
to hear all this stuff,” or, “you guys are too expensive!”Either way, their vehicle’s problems are
dismissed.

Sometimes I try and push the standards.If Audi says the brake pads should be changed
when 4 millimeters of material remains, I may wait till they are down to 3
millimeters before making the call. There’s only so much I can do.Worn brakes will need fixing, sooner or
later.Oil leaks turn from nuisance to
hazard, sometimes without warning.It’s
irresponsible not to inform people of these hazards, but so many are not
receptive to the news.

Frankly, I wish cars had absolute maintenance standards like
airplanes.Airlines are not allowed to
fly, unless the manufacturer’s service checklist is checked off and signed. That would take the pressure off service
managers, as bearers of bad news. Of course,
the penalty for failure in an airplane is greater, but it may not seem that way
to a stranded motorist.

This environment makes me appreciate new cars - where the service schedules are generally followed, and failures are covered by warranty; and antiques, which are labors of love for their owners.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Timing chain tensioners are probably the biggest
vulnerabilities 1997-2004 Jaguar V8 engines.The tensioners get old, and the plastic face that touches the chain gets
brittle and breaks.When that happens
the chain flops around excessively, until it fails.

There is no warning of this impending failure from
outside.The only way to know if your
guides and tensioners are good, is to remove the cam covers and inspect
them.Inspection – if they are good – is
a three-hour job.Replacement of the
upper tensioners – if needed – is a day’s work.Replacement of the lower chain guides is a much bigger job, most often
two days of work.

All those costs pale when compared to the bill for repair,
if the chain breaks.That will often run
$8-10,000.

The lesson to be drawn from this:Check your tensioners, and deal with them before
they fail. New tensioners are a few hundred dollars, plus the labor to put them in. It's a small price to pay for security.

Robison Service takes Jaguar service from all over the northeast. We've been catering to British car lovers for over 20 years. Visit us online at www.robisonservice.com

We are open from 8-5, Monday through Friday. There is a key drop in the front garage door for people who leave cars after hours.

We are New England's leading four-star authorized Bosch Car Service facility. Owner John Robison is a technical consultant to the Rolls Royce and Bentley owner clubs, the Land Rover club, and the BMW and Mercedes clubs. We're tech inspectors for the Porsche Club of America for regional track events. John's writing appears in many automotive magazines.